


Angels and Demons

by onegreenline



Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band), SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Halloween, M/M, the amount of spookiness is if someone yelled the word 'spooky' in another room while you read this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27361144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onegreenline/pseuds/onegreenline
Summary: The Student Activities Committee puts on an annual Halloween scavenger hunt, but this year, the grand prize has gone missing. Mark is volunteered to go into the forest with Jongin to find out what happened.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Mark Lee (NCT)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	Angels and Demons

**Author's Note:**

> maybe someday i'll be able to post one of the 439104839 chaptered wips i have, but today is not that day. 
> 
> i really wanted to post this in time for halloween, but i thought it might be a shame not to post it just because i was a little late. this is very sweet and very short, i hope it makes you smile!

A night unlike tonight, one that was quiet, peaceful, safe, and warm. That was what Mark wanted.

But what Mark had now was not that. No, what Mark had was a trip walking through the woods, wild screaming in the dark coming from a source that his mind identified as drunk students and his animal instincts identified as monsters. 

“If you lose me, you might not be able to find me again!” Jongin called, and that would be terrible, truly. Both because Mark would never get to see the senior he’d been in love with since pre-orientation in July (was it already so long ago?) and also because then the cackling in the trees might reveal itself to be much worse than wasted college kids.

So Mark picked up his pace, climbing over old tree roots that threatened to grab hold of his feet and never let go. He had a pretty good view of the leaf-covered ground because of the full moon casting bright white light on the whole forest that encircled their school’s secluded campus. It was also a clear night, not a cloud in the sky, which was great for visibility and terrible for warmth. 

It was so cold. Mark would follow Jongin to the ends of the Earth if he was asked—and that included semi-haunted woods—but he felt like he at least deserved some form of compensation for this. For example, if his fingers froze off, he would expect to collect damages.

Mark much preferred the nights he spent with Jongin in the library, or getting bubble tea after dinner, or the trips to the gym they took when Jongin was particularly convincing about Mark needing more exercise than what walking around campus gave him.

Even if Mark was always trying to stuff down the longing, wishing he could just tell Jongin how he felt, he preferred those nights to tramping around the woods.

Not that Jongin was getting paid for this himself. The thing was, Jongin didn’t care about that. Serving as president of the Student Activities Committee was an unpaid position, and Mark knew Jongin was such a genuinely wonderful person so as to find his payment to be the satisfaction he got from a job well done.

Which was what was propelling the pep in Jongin’s steps right now, which in turn was inspiring a repeating image in Mark’s head of himself faceplanting over a stray branch as he did his best to keep up. 

They were trying to see if the ultimate prize of the treasure hunt was still hidden in the fork of an old tree’s spindly branches. Jongin had gone out earlier in the afternoon to finish setting up the hunt for the annual school-wide Halloween celebration, had placed the prize in the tree, exactly where Student Activities agreed. 

But just as dusk was setting, Baekhyun texted everyone saying he’d heard from Ten that two seniors were seen leaving the forest holding something—the source apparently hadn’t been able to see what it was.

A few of the committee members were concerned the seniors had started the treasure hunt early and didn’t want the missing prize to ruin it for everyone who started at nightfall, like the rules said. Jongin had volunteered to go check, since he placed it, and then Mark’s name was being suggested because everyone doing the treasure hunt had to go in pairs, why would Jongin be an exception?

_Jongin: you really think ill get lost???_

_Ten: its dark outside :-\ thats why we have the pairs rule in the first place_

_Jongin: i put the prize there myself……._

_Baekhyun: and after you get lost and freeze to death and then starve youll wish you had a buddy_

_Jongin: i think thats not how the timing would work??  
Jongin: does everyone really have this little faith in my navigation skills_

_Taemin: here’s a simple solution: just take mark with you_

_Jongin: fine mark meet me at the leaf_

After processing that Taemin had just given Mark a new lease on life (and making a note to thank him for throwing his name in), and that Jongin was now expecting Mark at the Leaf, like now, right now, isn’t that what he meant should he send a private message to clarify—Mark ran into the bathroom and turned the shower on with such force he’d thrown it as hot as it could go but didn’t spare a glance as he ripped his clothes off as fast as possible. He’d almost scalded himself when he jumped in, hoped that no one could hear his yelp, and then after turning the temperature down to _not hot enough to boil a whole chicken_ took the fastest shower of his life. 

When Mark was jogging to the Leaf—the sculpture of a leaf that some art majors had designed and the college had made into a bronze sculpture aptly titled the Leaf and placed at the edge of the woods—he could see his breath every time he passed under a street lamp. He was glad he’d taken one of his heavier fall jackets in a split second decision before he’d run out the door. Mark wasn’t expecting to be out with Jongin long, but it really was cold.

Jongin was already at the Leaf when Mark got there, a little out of breath. Mark had been a little concerned that Jongin would be upset, or something, that he’d have to wait for Mark, but when Jongin laid eyes on him he shot one of his brilliant smiles. If Jongin noticed Mark’s heavy breathing, Mark would have to blame it on the jog. 

But that rush of nerves had settled down half a mile ago. It had been replaced with a rush of freezing air that almost, _almost_ made Mark want to turn around and get back inside. If he were with anyone else, he would have left.

But Jongin had been his usual self. That is, he’d been teasing Mark’s pace (“Why are you so slow—”) and exploiting his fear of the dark (“—when you know that the number one reason people die in horror movies is that they didn’t run fast enough?”) and then cackling his evil laugh when Mark resolved not to fall victim to the senseless provocations and failed. 

“You’re scared, it’s written on your face!” Jongin yelled, then scampered over another branch as they trekked deeper into the woods. 

“Hey, I’m not scared,” Mark said, dragging his eyes off Jongin’s animated form to make sure that the image in his mind’s eye, of him smacking face-first into the ground because he didn’t watch his step, didn’t turn into an image in Jongin’s actual eyes. “It’s natural to be concerned about your surroundings when you’re in a dark, wooded area.” He chanced a glance back up, saw Jongin still a few lengths ahead. “You know that.” He added on a quick glance backwards, before he could lose his nerve. There was nothing behind him except for the trees.

“Yes, but the difference is that the worst thing that can happen is we get lost, and have to wait until sunrise to get back to campus,” Jongin said. Mark could hear the breath in his voice from his exertion. “You think the worst thing that can happen is an evil vampire werewolf demon cannibal monster demon is staring at you in the dark with glowing red eyes.” Jongin came to a stop. “It’s not the same,” he said as he looked back, the moonlight reflecting off his eyes.

Mark could barely make out the glint of Jongin’s teeth, revealed in an open-mouthed smile. “You said demon twice,” he grumbled as he caught up. 

“That’s the only part you have an issue with?”

“Well, you also said ‘evil,’ but I think that would be inherent with ‘demon,’ I guess.”

There was a pause. Mark could see that Jongin kept his smile, but the corners had turned up even more in amusement as he crinkled his eyebrows. Mark shoved Jongin’s arm, and another peal of laughter blessed his ears. “Why did we stop?” he asked, trying to get Jongin’s attention off of his irrational fears.

“We’re here,” Jongin said, and stared into Mark’s eyes.

Well, it took a second of staring into Jongin’s eyes for Mark to realize that Jongin was not staring back. No, he was looking just over Mark’s head, and Mark hoped the moonlight was not bright enough to illuminate the new blush on his cheeks that was definitely not from the cold or their power walk.

Mark turned around and saw the tree they had just passed. He took a closer look at it now. It was very old, with wickedly rough bark on its thick trunk and a wide, spindly expanse of branches that spread out over their heads like the open palm of an ancient being with a hundred bony fingers.

The branches still had a few leaves on them, though they had no real color to them in the darkness. (Maybe Jongin hadn’t been able to make out Mark’s blush, after all.)

Mark looked to where the branches grew out of the trunk. Jongin had said he’d hidden the prize in the fork of two branches there, but Mark couldn’t see anything. In the distance, Mark heard screaming. It was some pair of drunk college students, who had started the scavenger hunt right when night fell, like the rules had said they were supposed to. But it was still a little unsettling to Mark. 

Jongin passed him, walking to one side of the trunk and poking his head into the mess of branches. Mark had a stupid concern that the tree might eat his face if he got too close, but he bit his tongue. He did not need to humiliate himself in front of Jongin any further.

“Well, I don’t see it,” Jongin said. 

Mark frowned. So those seniors really had taken it?

“You’re sure this is the tree, and everything?”

Jongin sighed and stepped back from the tree, and Mark let out an internal sigh of his own. Jongin still had his face.

“Yeah, I’m sure. It looks really spooky, doesn’t it?” Jongin smiled as he looked over at Mark. “It’s why I picked this one.”

It did look spooky, which was why Mark wanted Jongin to keep walking over to him. He backed up two steps, hoping to subconsciously spur Jongin to join him.

It worked, Jongin matching him so that they stood side by side as they watched the tree for a moment. 

“Well, I don’t know where I can get a replacement on such short notice,” Jongin said. The wind rushed past them, and the tree waved in their direction. The ancient hand was beckoning them, its finger-like branches curling and uncurling in the shape of a hundred hooks as if to draw them near.

Jongin had refused to tell anyone what the prize was. _It’s part of the thrill of Halloween!_ he’d insisted, when Baekhyun had pressed him for an answer during one of their weekly committee meetings a few weeks ago. _It’s part of the Halloween magic! The Halloween spirit!_

_You’re not Santa,_ Baekhyun had said. Then he chortled, presumably at the image of Jongin dressed as Santa. Well, that’s what had made Mark chortle. _I bet you’re just getting some candy at Party City and putting it in a plastic jack-o-lantern kids use for trick-or-treating._

Jongin had not responded to that accusation. Mark figured that was as good as an admission. 

It didn’t make much of a difference to Mark. He didn’t like being in the woods after dark, he didn’t like the cold, and he didn’t like scavenger hunts. The first, because of the dark, the second, because of the frostbite, and the third, because his brain didn’t think in a puzzle-solving way. His mind worked in more abstract ways, which made it easier to do things like write music and analyze literature. Brain teasers were not his strength or his interest.

But Jongin was his interest, so he’d almost cooked himself 45 minutes ago trying to become the best-smelling version of himself as fast as possible for this very moment. 

This moment, standing next to Jongin, staring at his profile, all alone in the dark woods. 

Mark should say something. About how he’s been in love with Jongin since they met. And he thinks Jongin is very special. And—and—he didn’t know what else. He didn’t even know if Jongin saw him as anything other than an annoying freshman. 

But Mark could change that. All he had to do was—not blow this chance—

He took a breath. “Jongin, I—”

“Does the tree look like it’s moving to you?”

Mark shut his mouth, and he took a moment to push the embarrassment down as he took in the new frown on Jongin’s lips. He had come so close to doing something very humiliating. 

Mark tore his gaze off Jongin’s mouth and looked at the tree. “It’s kind of windy, is that what you—”

He cut himself off a second time. He stared. 

The tree was moving.

Mark’s heart rate had been elevated for those terrible few seconds that it had been semi-realistic to think he might actually confess his feelings to Jongin in this lifetime. But his heart had almost instantly started pounding when the message in his eyes—that the branches of the spooky tree were moving right where they connected to the trunk—reached his brain. 

It was moving. The tree was shuttering, waving, moving. And not from the wind.

Was it _alive?_

“What is that.” he breathed. 

One moment, Jongin was next to Mark, within safe reach (so that Mark could grab his arm and run or use him as a human meat shield, he would not admit), and the next, Jongin was _walking towards the tree._

“Wait, Jongin—” Mark said, trying to tamp down the alarm in his voice.

Was the tree really an old giant? Was it possessed? Had it really been beckoning them to approach? Was it going to eat Jongin’s face?

An image of a faceless Jongin flashed into Mark’s mind. “Jongin!” he cried, the fear propelling him forward.

Jongin was already there, about to stick his head right up to that strange shifting part of the tree. “Get back!” Mark yelled, clamping a hand onto his shoulder. 

He intended to yank Jongin back to safety, but he made the crucial mistake of giving in to that split-second instinct to look at the tree. He froze when his eyes were drawn to the shifting. 

A pair of eyes was staring back.

“Ah!” Mark screamed. He scrambled back, forgetting about Jongin’s existence, and promptly tripped over his foot and fell flat on his ass.

He let out another “ah!” only it was tinged more with pain than fear. 

Laughing made its way down to Mark’s ears. He looked up, saw Jongin cackling at him. Once again, he still had his face.

“Is the tree alive?” Mark asked, both to ease his fear and to get Jongin to stop laughing at him. 

Jongin wiped a finger under his eye as he tried to quiet himself to giggles. Okay, Mark hadn’t done anything funny enough to make Jongin cry-laugh.

“No,” Jongin said, the amusement heavy in his voice. “Look.”

Frowning, Mark looked back at the tree. The eyes were still there, and it alarmed Mark, but as he kept watching, he made out a few more details.

Some ears. A tiny snout. Two little grabby hands, and a black fur mask around the eyes.

It was a raccoon.

Mark knew Jongin could feel the realization hit him when it happened. They sat there in silence. Mark imagined himself dissolving into the ground underneath his freezing butt, never to be seen or heard from again. 

It was quiet until the raccoon started making some scritching noises as it felt around the base of the branches. 

Jongin walked around to the back of the tree. “Oh, there it is,” he said, and bent down.

He came back holding a palm-sized box. “It wasn’t the seniors who took it. Just this little guy.”

Jongin stepped closer to the tree and waved the box around. The raccoon scared and skittered down the trunk. It ran off, the sound of its tiny feet shuffling across the leaf-lined ground fading into quiet.

Jongin nestled the box back into its spot. “There we go.” He turned around and looked at Mark, then extended a hand. “You okay?” he asked with a smile.

Mark’s cheeks were blazing red, he could feel it. “Yeah,” he said, grabbing Jongin’s hand and letting himself get easily pulled up. 

He released his grip on Jongin’s hand once he got back on his feet. Jongin did not do the same.

Instead, Jongin trailed his hand up to Mark’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Mark’s heart stuttered. 

“You sure?” Jongin asked. “You looked really scared.” 

Mark nodded, struck dumb. 

Jongin smiled again. “Cute,” he said. 

What. 

Jongin _trailed his hand back down Mark’s arm_ and then _took Mark’s hand in his_. “I said, ‘cute,’ Mark, you looked really cute.” He pouted. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

One of Mark’s knees gave out, and he stumbled. Thankfully, he caught himself, but not before Jongin tightened his grip on Mark’s shoulder. “Woah,” Jongin said, pushing Mark by the shoulder. “Lean against the tree,” he added, placing Mark against the trunk. “It’s too cold to sit on the ground.” 

He still had his hand on Mark’s shoulder. Mark’s head was spinning. 

This happened, sometimes. When Mark would flop onto the ground after a grueling workout, Jongin would coo and praise him for his effort. Or, at the library, Jongin would rest a palm on Mark’s back when Mark had taken a break to rest his head on his arms on the table. It made Mark’s heart flutter until he could forcefully remind himself that Jongin was just a touchy person. 

Jongin was affectionate, and though he treated Mark in his achingly sweet way (when he wasn’t teasing him for being afraid of the dark), Mark always fought against misreading situations like this. Jongin just wanted him to rest his weight for a second. He had meant “cute” in a platonic way. His hand was warm and strong on Mark’s shoulder only because he didn’t want Mark to fall down again. 

“Good,” Jongin said. “It would be terrible if you got hurt.”

Mark nodded, only because he didn’t know what to say.

No, he knew what to say. This was the real chance! If he took this chance, then all those moments that had taken Mark frighteningly close to delusion could start being real. Jongin could touch him, and it would be real.

It all clicked, and Mark knew, for certain, what he was about to do. What he’d been planning on doing since Taemin had given him that gift over text. Jongin might turn him down, and it would hurt, but the near-death experience he’d just gone through had finally convinced him that life was fleeting. 

Next time, it might not be a raccoon staring at him in a haunted tree, and he’d die without telling Jongin how he felt.

Except he had no clue the exact words he wanted to use, because even though he had practiced what he might say in the privacy of his dorm room before, no part of his script was currently making itself available for his use. “Jongin, I have to say something,” he forced out. He tore his gaze off Jongin’s face to save his nerves for getting his confession out. He took a breath.

“Wait, me first,” Jongin said, and Mark internally groaned, because his heart couldn’t take this pre-confession panic for long.

“Just hear me out, okay?” Jongin asked. Mark looked at his eyes, saw the earnestness in them. 

“Of course,” he said, softly.

Jongin took a breath. Was he—he looked strange. Almost...nervous?

“I know we’ve been dating for a while,” Jongin said, “but I really want our relationship to be official. What do you think?” 

Mark stared. He blinked. He stared some more. 

Jongin just looked back. “Mark?”

Had Mark’s fall tossed him into the future? Was it already April Fool’s Day? 

“Dating?” Mark squeaked. “‘We’ve been dating?’” His voice was very high pitched.

Jongin’s hand dropped from Mark’s shoulder. “Mark?” he asked, his face changing from a nervous sweetness to questioning. “I thought—you didn’t know?”

Mark shook his head, slowly, unconsciously. “No,” he said, his voice breaking. 

“But we’ve been going on dates every week,” Jongin said. “What did you think we were doing?”

It was a very good thing he had the solid tree behind him. His knees could give out at any second. “Friendship?” Mark tried. 

Jongin studied Mark’s face for a moment and then laughed. “Mark!” he admonished. “We’ve been dating since the first week of September!” Jongin tucked a strand of hair behind Mark’s ear. “I can’t believe this. I really thought you knew.”

Mark forced the feeling of skin of Jongin’s finger brushing against Mark’s temple out of his head, choosing not to address his second near-death experience of the night. Banishing it from his mind. Making room for something, anything else.

_The first week of September?_ A memory zipped to the front of Mark’s mind from the Wednesday of that week: Jongin, pulling on Mark’s wrist after the Student Activities meeting ended, as the rest of the members filed out the door. Waiting for the room to empty, Jongin told Mark something about how he really liked one of his ideas for Homecoming. Once they had their privacy, Jongin quieted for a moment.

“Do you want to get dinner with me sometime, Mark?” Jongin asked, his smile looking particularly charming and his warm brown eyes looking particularly inviting.

Mark’s heart exploded into confetti—at the idea that Jongin didn’t think he was annoying. He had thought he was being given an opportunity from the gods to become friends with Jongin. 

Had that—had that been Jongin asking him on a date?

Another memory, from the beginning of this month: Ten, lounging in Mark’s dorm room, asking him if things were going well with Jongin. 

“Yeah, same as you and Jongin, I’d guess,” Mark said, thinking about how Jongin and Ten had once giggled together about some secret thing during a meeting and tried not to feel jealous.

Ten stared at him. “The same?” he asked. “Why would it be the same?”

“I don’t know, why wouldn’t it be?” Mark answered. 

But Ten hadn’t explained. Just texted someone on his phone. 

It hadn’t been important to Mark, at the time. 

Jongin brought him back to the present. “I guess you’ve never been in a relationship before,” he said.

That was correct. But, well, how would Mark know? Considering the fact he had apparently been dating Jongin this whole time, who knew what he’d missed before? Maybe he was married. Maybe he had children.

Well, that last idea wasn’t possible. But the point still stood.

“No,” Mark said. The shock of his world flipping upside down had reduced him to one-word answers.

Jongin took in a deep breath and then let it out. “Then maybe we should start over,” he said. “Go back to, I don’t know, August?”

“No!” Mark repeated. He didn’t know exactly what was so unappealing about that idea, but it made him shudder. “No, no, let’s not start over. Let’s keep going.” He had been dreaming about _dating Jongin_ for months. The fact that, this whole time, he actually had been? His dream had come true?

To Jongin, it was just another day. To Mark, it was like a magic wish had been granted. He wouldn’t let that wish go to waste.

“Let’s make it official,” Mark said, resolve strong in his voice. He couldn’t believe what he was saying, one foot on Cloud Nine and the other standing on nothing at all. One wrong step and he’d go tumbling down. 

Jongin frowned. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel forced into a relationship. It’s important we do things at a pace that makes us comfortable.”

Mark didn’t like what he was hearing. “This is comfortable! I’ve been comfortable the whole time!” He grabbed at Jongin’s wrist, then his hand, then immediately regretted it, because now he would have to continue speaking while holding Jongin’s hand. He wasn’t sure he had the brain power to do that.

“I was going to say something before you started talking,” Mark continued. “I was going to say that—that—I really like you, Jongin.” The pressure was almost suffocating. Mark steeled himself and tried to stick to his script, which had made a miraculous reappearance in his head. “I—I admired you a lot, ever since I met you, because you’re a really good leader and you’re really kind to me and you make me laugh and—and—I know I’m just a freshman but I think we match each other really well. So, yeah. Haha.” 

Mark wished the tree behind him really was evil so that it could eat him and he wouldn’t need to hear Jongin’s response to his stuttering mess of a confession. 

The tree was not evil. Or, maybe it was, and that was why it didn’t eat him. 

Jongin had been searching Mark’s face during his speech. “Let’s keep going. Let’s—have a relationship. I want that,” Mark said, his voice going quieter and quieter in Jongin’s silence. “A lot,” he whispered.

Jongin chuckled. “Okay, Mark,” he said, and it was like he’d lifted an anvil off Mark’s shoulders. “Let’s keep going.” He squeezed Mark’s hand. “I can’t believe you didn’t realize I was dating you, though,” he teased.

Mark groaned and took his hand back. “Please don’t ever mention this again,” he pleaded. 

“Why not? It’s cute.” Jongin tilted his head. “Probably the cutest thing you’ve ever done.” 

“Please don’t tell anyone!” Mark said. “Especially not Ten.” 

Jongin took a half-step forward. “Why not Ten?” he asked. 

Mark gulped. He was very aware of the weight of the tree behind him and, now, the heat of Jongin seeping through his coat. He was very close. “B-because,” Mark stuttered, “he won’t let me live it down.” 

The corners of Jongin’s mouth gently tilted up. Mark was so glad that it was night. The moonlight was bright enough so that he could clearly make out Jongin’s face, but not so bright that Mark couldn’t hide his embarrassment in it. “I won’t tell anyone,” Jongin said, voice lower than Mark had ever heard it.

In fact, the sound of Jongin’s voice sent a twist through Mark’s stomach. They were really close, and Mark couldn’t back up anywhere, and Jongin’s voice was low and he was letting go of Mark’s hand to grasp his shoulder. “Mark,” Jongin said, again in that deep tone. “If you said you wanted to make it official, I was planning on kissing you.”

Well, there went Mark’s sanity. And his heart—he no longer felt it beating. “O-oh?”

Mark had kissed exactly one guy before. It had made his heart flutter, had made him feel special. But he was realizing that it was just the act of kissing which had excited him. Not the person he was doing it with. He hadn’t been boyfriends with him. Just interested. He understood all of this now that he had the real thing in front of him.

The real thing, the thing that was making it impossible to breathe, impossible to move a muscle, impossible to think about anything except Jongin’s body heat and the slight curve to his lips and the space shrinking between their mouths. 

“Can I kiss you now?” Jongin whispered. 

Mark’s eyes fluttered shut. His body must have thought he really was dreaming, that he needed to be asleep for this to keep going. “Yeah,” he breathed. 

Jongin put his other hand on the trunk, leaning his weight on his arm as he caged Mark all the way in. A million emotions were stampeding through Mark’s heart. He was afraid his chest might burst.

Mark cracked his eyes open just enough to watch Jongin’s mouth. Jongin tipped his head to the side, his lips parting, and Mark could feel his breath pant against his mouth.

He shut his eyes again. He couldn’t bear to watch. 

Jongin closed the distance between their mouths.

Jongin only gently pressed his lips against Mark’s, and Mark immediately took a deep breath through his nose. Mark felt Jongin smile against his mouth. 

Jongin opened his mouth a little, catching his lips against Mark’s, and then closed it again. He angled his head to the other side, and Mark felt the coldness of Jongin’s jacket as he rested his hand on Jongin’s hip. He had no idea what to do with his hands, so he hoped this was natural enough.

Mark wasn’t as experienced as Jongin, but he hoped it didn’t make much of a difference. It was incredibly nice, in Mark’s opinion, to be able to kiss Jongin in such a slow way so that he could calm his frantic heart. There was no end goal, no need to worry about where it might lead or whether he’d disappoint Jongin.

Jongin gave Mark little pecks, longer presses, and at times even brought his tongue out the slightest amount to make sure their lips stayed wet and the slide easy. It made Mark burn inside, but that was because he liked Jongin so much. The kiss was still lighthearted, and Mark liked the gentle pace because it gave him a chance to relax. 

Mark kept his eyes closed, so he couldn’t see when Jongin opened his eyes narrowly to check on Mark. Jongin saw that Mark looked like he was focusing very hard, a crease between his eyebrows, and he moved his gloved hand off Mark’s shoulder and rested it against Mark’s neck, just beneath his ear. 

Mark heard a rushing noise as he processed the new placement of Jongin’s hand. He was stuck in place, under Jongin’s total control. 

The thought made Mark’s throat let out the smallest whimper. 

Jongin gave Mark one last peck and then drew back an inch. He wasn’t close enough that his speaking caused their lips to brush against each other, but they were sharing each other’s breaths. 

“You okay?” Jongin whispered.

Mark opened his eyes a little, saw Jongin studying his gaze and then watching his mouth. It sent another zip of heat through him. “Yeah,” Mark breathed. 

Even if the tree Mark was leaning against was actually an evil vampire werewolf demon cannibal monster demon in disguise, it didn’t matter. 

Jongin bent the arm he had braced against the tree, and covered Mark with his body once again.


End file.
